Since prehistoric times, people in many different societies have looked up to the dark, nighttime sky studying celestial objects. The knowledge obtained from the studies of ancient and modem astronomers is used to explain life—past, present and future. The grouping of stars to form images and patterns has been a common practice across all societies and cultures. Roman and Greek mythology heavily revolve around celestial images formed by stars in the sky. Whether being used to tell an ancient story, aid in agricultural planning, or even predict the future, stars and constellations can hold special significance in everyday life.
Stargazing continues to be a very popular activity among all ages. As darkness sets in, a spectacular universe awaits its audience. However, the universe is quite immense and one cannot expect to be able to identify everything all at once. Astronomers know of close to a hundred official constellations and thousands of stars, and continue to discover more. Stargazing sometimes requires the use of sky maps, star charts and other sophisticated astronomy tools that the novice stargazer may not have or be adept at using. Furthermore, some stars and constellations are constantly moving locations and changing appearances. For all these reasons, the ordinary person will often find it difficult, if not impossible, to identify a particular star or constellation on any given day.
With new stars constantly being found and new constellations being formed, it is necessary to establish and maintain catalogs of identified stars and constellations in order to preserve their identity. Catalogs provide valuable information about stars and/or constellations, such as the specific stars that comprise constellations, the locations of stars/constellations and adjacent stars/constellations. This information is made publicly available to prevent duplication of an already existing star or constellation. The registry allows for the rejection of stars if the star is too close in criterion to an already established star.
While there have been many methods and devices invented for finding stars and constellations, few, if any, have been simple enough to be used by the average individual, specifically the unskilled stargazer. The nighttime sky is entirely too vast and too variable for the average person to navigate. There are many factors that can affect one's success in being able to locate certain celestial objects, such as, the viewer's geographic location and the current time and date. More often than not, leaving the unskilled stargazer to his/her own devices will result in an unsuccessful viewing of the desired star or constellation.
Suzaki developed a method and system, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,827, for drawing an image over stars in the sky with a laser beam. This system requires a laser beam projection onto a semi-transparent net screen, which is stretched ten meters from the ground, in order to draw an image in a starlit sky. Unless it is desired to display the superimposed image on a very large scale and/or for a sizeable group, this system requires methods and materials that are both too cumbersome and complicated. An object of the subject invention is to provide a resource that is accessible to the average individual to provide unique meaning and a fulfilling experience when observing the night sky. Unlike the invention described in the '827 patent, the subject invention is not designed for superimposing images onto the actual night sky.
Samole (U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,554) discloses an apparatus and method for finding and identifying nighttime sky objects. Although this prior art invention provides for viewing and identification of nighttime sky objects, specifically, stars, planets and constellations, it lacks in providing any teachings in the creation of images from those objects. Also, in order to be used effectively, optical instruments such as that disclosed by Gerritsen et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,028,721) require favorable weather conditions and, therefore their use is limited during certain times.
As discussed above, the average person gazing up at the nighttime sky is unlikely to see much more than a plain, dark canvas speckled with tiny, white dots. However, with some assistance from certain creative companies, an interesting gift concept emerged a number of years ago whereby people can have stars named for themselves or others. Although services for naming stars have been known for many years, these services have certain drawbacks. First, because such services have been available for so long, the naming of a star for somebody is not as unique, special, or surprising as it once was. Also, although there are millions and millions of stars, only a small subset of these stars are visible to the naked eye. Accordingly, the vast majority of people for whom a star is named will never be able to see the star.
Furthermore, although the thought of having a star named for somebody seems romantic and unique, the fact is that if the star can be seen at all, it looks pretty much like every other star. Thus, apart from the name given to the star, the gift is not very unique at all. Finally, the star registry process does not provide much opportunity for any meaningful input by an average individual wishing to gaze into the sky and identify through imagination and creativity an image of special significance.
Thus, a need exists for a system that can be used to creatively identify unique images in the nighttime sky. Advantageously, aspects of the system can be utilized by the average star-gazer while also providing a standardized process for registering new and creative constellation images for purposes of honoring people and events in a unique and creative manner.